Rebel_1812 said:
I'm not sure the tear everything down and rebuild model is the way to go. Ottawa didn't trade away their best players like Spezza and seem to have rebounded. The sharks haven't traded away Marleau or Thorton and are doing well. If talent is a problem, trading away your best players isn't a good solution.
Who said anything about trading away the team's best players? Other than Phaneuf, who I'm only advocating that option for because he's a pending UFA, the guys that I'd move are the depth guys and the secondary guys. I wouldn't move Kessel, Kadri, JvR, etc. It's guys like Bolland, Raymond, McClement, Frason, Kulemin, Gunnarsson, etc that should be considered as trade bait should the team bottom out. Most of these guys are pending UFAs and are in line to be paid more than the Leafs should be giving them for what they provide.
EDIT: And, for what it's worth, the last time the Sharks missed the playoffs, they traded Nolan to the Leafs, and he was either their top scorer or 2nd leading scorer in 6 of the previous 7 seasons. The Sharks have never been in a position where they were going to missed the playoffs when either Marleau or Thornton were due to be UFAs. Same with Ottawa and Spezza.